Cannonballs and Campaign Signs – UPDATE
Now here’s a fine use of political capital and taxpayer resources, all in one swoop: having the CMPD round up campaign sign thieves at the behest of Mayor Pro Tem Patrick Cannon, a Democrat councilmember running for at-large reelection.
“Justine Tobin a local activist and ‘Occupy Charlotte’ protester who has hosted at least one fund raiser at her home for Patrick Cannon, had seen a number of ‘Re-Elect Cannon’ signs disappear from her yard as well as the yards of other Cannon supporting neighbors. The thief struck 3 times over a number of days last month,” reports investigative blogger and professional agitator Cedar Posts.
Tobin made numerous calls to 911 to report the thefts but still the signs kept vanishing, so she contacted Patrick Cannon to see if something could be done.
Enraged apparently Cannon called CMPD Chief Monroe and gave the Chief a little arm twisting.
The story further informs that CMPD’s Vice and Narcotics Tactical Surveillance Unit set up a three-night sting operation in east Charlotte’s Foxcroft neighborhood, using unmarked police cars and wireless cameras, to nab the sign-stealing lawbreakers.
Which all sounds wildly outrageous, until you come across police incident reports listing Justine Tobin, resident of Beresford Road in Foxcroft, as the reporting victim of – wait for it – campaign sign theft.
According to CMPD five teenagers had been stealing the signs as an ongoing prank. All where issued civil summons rather than being arrested … Tobin tells Cedar Posts that CMPD Officers were successful in recovering at least 20 campaign signs belonging to Patrick Cannon and others. The signs are valued at nearly $500.00.
The cost of the surveillance operation, nearly $15,000.00 according to one CMPD officer.
Wonderful.
We called Cannon this afternoon for comment on the story, but haven’t received a response; keep you updated if we do.
UPDATE: Cannon left a voicemail Wednesday night with PunditHouse’s World HQ answering service – o.k., it was my cell phone – responding to the campaign sign capers:
“The fact of the matter of what happened in Foxcroft is that there happened to be neighborhood residents who took it upon themselves to alert police and ask that they work with them to try to apprehend or deal with those who had been stealing what appeared not to just be my campaign signs, but also the campaign signs of others and even some that were from the private sector as well.
“So I can’t take credit, or anything else, for rounding up police, per say, to go in and to do whatever it was that they did to make any arrests as it related to what was going on with the stealing of campaign signs.”
In a follow-up call, Cannon referenced an email that the CMPD had sent to the mayor and councilmembers informing of widespread campaign-sign thefts and police response to address the problem, but didn’t provide any specifics. PunditHouse has requested a copy of the email from the CMPD, as well as the department’s version of police response to the Foxcroft incident; updates to follow as information becomes available.
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